Despite the ideal of a paperless environment that the popularization of computers had promised, paper continues to dominate the office landscape. Ironically, the computer itself has been a major contributing source of paper proliferation. The computer simplifies the task of document composition, and thus has enabled even greater numbers of publishers. The computer promotes individual expression through the use of graphics tools, image capture devices, image enhancement tools, and so on, in addition to traditional text editing. Oftentimes, documents must be shared among colleagues, thus generating even more paper.
Despite advances in technology, suitable personal output devices as a practical substitute for paper remain to be developed. Personal data assistants (PDAs such as Palm Pilot® by 3Comm, Inc., and similar hand held devices) typically do not have the storage capacity, the processing capacity, the display capacity, or the connectivity to effectively present documents to the user in a convenient and useful manner. Unlike paper, devices such as PDAs are not universal. While many document formats exist for representing information, not all devices have all the software needed to read all documents. Worse yet, PDA documents typically use formats that are not readily available on a desktop or laptop PC. Usually, documents have to be converted between formats. Thus, paper remains the simplest way in many situations for storing information (e.g., record keeping), distributing information, and controlling access to information.
Paper has been an integral component of civilization for thousands of years. Its replacement is not likely to occur soon, if ever, despite the ubiquity of computer-based technology. Electronic information almost invariably is reduced, at least in part, to paper. Generally, there is a need to use computers to more effectively share information and to provide access to that information. In addition, the information should not be limited to any particular mode of expression, allowing for all forms of communication media.
A cover sheet, as used in a TouchVerse™ system of Ricoh Innovations of Menlo Park, Calif., is typically a paper document that provides access to and management of a collection of arbitrary media files. Each cover sheet typically contains a machine-readable identifier for the collection as well as a graphic or image representing the contents of the collection. When a modification occurs to the collection, the graphic that appears on the cover sheet is changed. However, to reflect those changes, a new paper cover sheet is printed.
Collections of paper documents are used for many purposes. Many people keep folders of documents on their desks or in their file system that are related to a particular task or to a particular person.
People have used stamps on documents for many years for a variety of purposes. For example, when people approve certain documents, the document may receive an “approved” stamp to indicate its approval. However, such stamping is always susceptible to forgery. That is, it was often difficult from looking at a stamped document to determine whether the document is authentic since any individual or entity could have applied the stamp. One prior art solution to this problem is to add a digital watermark to the document. The digital watermark is difficult to reproduce, and therefore, provides a level of security to the document since only the party applying the watermark is likely able to have it placed on the document. Another prior art solution is to attach digital signatures to documents. However, neither the digital watermark nor the digital signature is a guarantee that the document to which they are applied is authentic. That is, the digital watermark and the digital signature are not entangled with the information that appears on the document. Therefore, the presence alone of the digital watermark or the digital signature cannot be used to provide a high level of authenticity.